Brussels offers Poland a bitter pill to get its
recovery funds
Ursula von der Leyen outlined a compromise, but her
conditions go to the heart of the Polish government’s political standing back
home.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen
presented Poland a compromise that would unlock up to €36 billion in recovery
funding for Polish citizens |
BY ZOSIA
WANAT, PAOLA TAMMA AND LILI BAYER
October 28,
2021 11:31 pm
Ursula von
der Leyen has laid out a roadmap for de-escalating a rule-of-law crisis with
Warsaw, but following her directions won’t be so easy for the Polish
government.
The
European Commission president on Thursday publicly presented Poland a
compromise that would unlock up to €36 billion in recovery funding for Polish
citizens, outlining at a press conference three demands for changes to the
country’s judicial system that would ease a deal between Warsaw and Brussels.
Nevertheless,
the Berlaymont’s plan may be a no-go for Poland’s ruling Law and Justice (PiS)
party, which has staked its political standing at home for years on the
argument that the country’s justice system has to be revamped. It’s a stance
that has driven Warsaw into a tense standoff with Brussels over accusations
that PiS is systematically undermining the Polish judges’ independence. And the
changes von der Leyen is proposing go to the core of the PiS judiciary
campaign, said one person familiar with the talks.
The
conflict has reached a boiling point in recent weeks.
Poland was
ordered on Wednesday to pay a €1 million penalty each passing day for refusing
to suspend a disciplinary body for judges. And earlier this month, a ruling
from the Polish Constitutional Tribunal — whose own legitimacy has been
questioned — controversially declared some elements of the EU’s treaties
incompatible with Poland’s constitution, possibly challenging the EU’s legal
foundation.
Now,
Poland’s billions in grants and low-interest loans under the EU’s pandemic
relief fund are frozen. And there’s no clear path forward.
In an
effort to offer a way out of the crisis, von der Leyen said on Thursday that as
a precondition to receiving recovery funds, Poland would have to dismantle its
contested disciplinary chamber for judges — which was ruled illegal by the EU’s
top court in July — as well as “end or reform” a disciplinary regime for judges
and begin a process for reinstating those who have been sacked.
Warsaw
would have to commit to these reforms in order to unlock the first tranche of
recovery funding, equivalent to 13 percent of the total, and prove that it has
achieved them by mid-2022 in order to access any further payments under the
bloc’s Recovery and Resilience Facility, according to two people familiar with
the talks.
The first
of von der Leyen’s demands appears to be acceptable for Warsaw — Polish Prime
Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has signaled many times that his government will
dismantle the disciplinary chamber, and on Thursday he confirmed that a new law
on the judicial system would be ready “in the upcoming months.”
But ending
or reforming the disciplinary regime for judges could prove much more difficult
politically for the ruling party.
The key
negotiations are now over on what grounds Polish judges can be held accountable
in disciplinary proceedings, according to the two officials. For example,
Brussels is asking Warsaw to allow Polish judges to check the legality of other
judges, they added — something PiS doesn’t want to happen because of doubts
over whether some of the judges were legally appointed after the ruling party
made sweeping changes to its judicial system.
A senior
Polish official said, “dismantling the disciplinary chamber [is] probably OK,
but allowing judges to question other judges’ status is beyond a very thick red
line.”
Von der
Leyen has indicated that the milestone Poland would have to fulfill in order to
access recovery funding is being designed to mirror demands from the EU’s top
court.
“This
happens to be also of course embedded in the overall ruling of the European
Court of Justice — this is a long-standing process — therefore there is
consistency in what we are asking for,” she said Thursday.
Apart from
the request to dismantle the disciplinary chamber, the EU’s top court said in
July that the content of Polish judges’ verdicts can’t be classified as a
disciplinary offense and that judges have the right to refer cases to the EU
high court. The EU judges also ruled that Poland’s disciplinary proceedings
against judges have to be examined within a reasonable time, giving them the
right to defense.
Speaking of
the Commission’s demands, von der Leyen said, “I think it is doable, I hope that
we’ll reach an agreement,” before adding: “But the reform part is conditio sine
qua non.”
At home,
any backtracking on judicial reforms would intensify political tensions within
the government, since the legal changes formally belong to the portfolio of
Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro, the leader of PiS’ far-right junior coalition
partner. Ziobro doesn’t think Warsaw should make any concessions in its
conflict with Brussels.
Speaking on
Thursday, the minister said, “as far as I’m concerned, in Mrs. von der Leyen’s
homeland, in Germany, there’s a disciplinary system in place.”
He also
said that Poland should not comply with the EU’s ruling to dismantle the
chamber, calling the demand “lawlessness.”
Sem comentários:
Enviar um comentário